154 replies to this topic

[anttics]

There was an issue With the nest.
For some reason they were not taking their dead out. It even had a noticeable smell. So I took the nest out into a container. Imidiatly they rush out of the nest. And started taking out the dead ants. There were 1000s of dead bodies. Here are some pictures. The weird smell came from the dead ants.







I later connected it to their outworld. For them to move the brood. 2 days later the nest had no brood. I dump the rest in the outworld. Once all dead ants were removed. I calculate 2000 or more dead ants all 4 corners were blanket with bodies. The colony is at 10000 or more so it did not dent their numbers at all. There 100s of callow workers. There is not much space again.

Edited by anttics, September 4 2018 - 2:47 PM.

[anttics]

I found this today In the outworld. Its a yellow fungus, and some mites who were eating it. Do you think this could infect the conlony. No deads yet. Just the nornal amount. Colonynis at the thousands

https://i.imgur.com/Fme2Q1c.gifv

Some pics of mold from far away.

Edited by anttics, September 14 2018 - 10:16 AM.

[anttics]

This colony is super stable, and healthy. There are many thousand workers. Everyday there are 50 or more dead old ants. It does not even do a dent on their numbers.
For this reason I'm gonna try my new founding nest with them. It had more than 1 week for hydrostone to dry up. I'm traumatized after what happened to my fragilis colony. So here is a pic of them drinking water from the new nest



It is hydrostone mix with white sand in a platic dish. Whoch touches a sponge with a water reservoir. The sand has a smell when wet. All sands smell like that. If i see many workers dead I know there might be something wrong.

[anttics]

Ok I believe its tine to move this colony to a proper terrarium. They are too many now. I plan to big Aquarium or terrarium. Get soil from my local hunting grounds. Bake it and place the colony there. I have plans for humidity I'm not too sure what to do. If you mist it with water everyday. Or make some sort of system for water to get on one side of the nest. To be honest I'm not too sure exactly what is needed to keep this colony in a terrarum safely for years. Some sory of cleaning crew might be needed. No one ever does desert terrariums for ants. Any links pleade help. Ideas welcome too.

[YsTheAnt]

The problem with moving ants that can dig so well into a terrarium is that they can dig to the point where they destroy the entire thing. For such large colonies, you need a MASSIVE dirt setup, or a large nest that they can't dig in.

[anttics]

I had time to think of a plan. I will do a hybrid nest. I currently have them in 4 k23 fire bricks. My plan is to put each block in each side of the terrarium. Cover them with dirt. Just enough so the hole is not clog. They will have the middle to dig. I will connect each block to a tube were i can hydrate it. All blocks will be cover with vinyl. To keep humidity from reaching the soil. I will rarely water the soil. Just enough tp get them to dig. And use it as a granary. I will put sand with rocks at the bottom cover with some net. To keep water there just in case. I my hope is if i ever need to move them the queen will be at the warm humid block. Which i could pull and when tunels colapse the queen will be safe inside. Ill di a deatil pic journal for the new terrarium.

[Rstheant]

You can maybe put them in a ten gallon aquarium filled with substrate, kind of like a dirt box? Correct me if I’m wrong.
Wonderful colony, by the way. Good luck.

[anttics]

Colony is too big for 10 gallon 2 bricks are full. 5000 workers per brick. 2 are not full. I estimate 15000 workers are always inside the bricks plus another 5000 always chilling our side. I think a 40 gallon will work. With bricks, and substarte for them to dig

[Rstheant]

Or 50

[anttics]

I came up with a another idea. I have beem doing research about spring tales. They need charcoal, water, and rice or dead stuff. I plan to make a habitat inside the terrarium. Where spring tales could live and hide from small minors. I will use a ball. With a dome lid and cover it with dirt and hydrostone. It will be at a corner. Hopefylly they will be able to migrate to the blocks and eat all the crap. They hace been inaide those bricks for 6 months. I'm worried. About using them in the terrarium. Oncr its cover with dirt i won't be able.to clean any stuff.
So its coming together. I will use dave jay false bottom. And hydration method for desert terrarium. 4 bricks o k23 and baked dirt from the my hunting grounds to cover the bricks. so they can also dig tunels. Making it a hybrid terrarium. I believe I have everything covered. Spring tales will migrate when i sprinckle water on the soil. Any suggestions or mistakes i.might haved missed in my idead let me know.

Edited by anttics, November 24 2018 - 2:53 PM.

[Rstheant]

If you put them in dirt, they would grow much faster, because veromessor do very well in dirt setups.

[YsTheAnt]

If you put them in dirt, they would grow much faster, because veromessor do very well in dirt setups.

This colony is already huge, they don't need dirt to grow faster. They will destroy a dirt setup by digging it out completely.

[nurbs]

No, they don't need dirt.

 

https://www.instagra...ton_share_sheet

 

If you put them in dirt, they would grow much faster, because veromessor do very well in dirt setups.

[anttics]

Wow those nest were cool Nurbs. That is another option. One you could easely clean up. And hold a mature colony. Use a aquarium and place it on top of bricks. While once the colomy goes into the dirt. i will lose the queen. And even kill her if i need to move them.
as ystheant says. This colony is around 20000 strong i do not want them to grow fast now. Trust me you will get to a point were their growth will worry you.

Thank you for putting doubt I'm my mind nurbs. Lol. Just joking. Thanx for sharing. If you have more examples. Or even pics of your personal colonies set ups. I bet they are huge colonies.

Edited by anttics, November 27 2018 - 11:28 AM.

[Rstheant]

If you put them in dirt, they would grow much faster, because veromessor do very well in dirt setups.

This colony is already huge, they don't need dirt to grow faster. They will destroy a dirt setup by digging it out completely.

Yeah, they are huge.

[anttics]

So I read a story about a messor barabarus. Which dug out all the dirt. And ruined the terrarium. Which makes me think this species will do the same. And dug out the blocks. making it look like crap. I might try something else. Not to sure. What to do really. Now its cold so they are not growing much. In summer. They will go fully mature size colony. I have been thinking of getting long large bricks. And try to make nest out of them. Then i will place a samll terrarium which will be the out world. The video nurbs sent of that store with the large colony looks awesome. I might try something like that. Maybe ill try the original bricks cover with dirt hibrid on the fragilis colony. They are growing like crazy too.



I had tgis bricks in mind. 8x8x16. Make the 2 middle holes into chamber where water.will be available. A type of.drew starter formicarium, but a larger scale. While the outher walls will be dry chambers, and tunels. 2 would be enough. I have the tools to carve cement so ill try it.

Edited by anttics, December 6 2018 - 6:24 PM.

[anttics]

I came up with the decision of not using dirt. I have done floors. With cast from the bottom of an aquarium. The bottom will have gravel. With sponges which will hydrate an entire floor. Of 25inches long, by 13inches wide. My worried is. It night be too much humidity. Here is a pic of the floors



I cut them in half to be able to fit inside the aquarium. I calculate each floor will hold 10000 ants minimun. For a total of 5 floors. For a mature colony to hide insode completly. Here are a few more pics.





Ill probably have it ready by next week. I will wet them once more for all chemicals to evaporate. Then do the false bottom. With a vinyl tube to feed it water. The bottom. I will use hydrostone to close any holes into the water. Then put each floor on top. The towers to hold the second floor must be made of plastic. So floor avove stay 100% dry.

It looks a bit crooked but once i put it together i will be able to adjust for perfect level. What i like about this. I can take it apart half by half. And clean up.

[nurbs]

This is a good idea, it's similar to what I did to create more surface area for a mature colony of L. occidentale (millions of workers) in several large connected bins. This was for a lab though, but in your case it may make observation hard without disturbing them.

 

 

[anttics]

Agreed the whole colony will be able to see when i shine light to them. Or i could cover each floor with its on cover. And uncover each floor at the time. This idea just came to me. I agree. This set up uses space at its maximun. 25x13inches x 5. It could hold more ants that this species is. Known to have. My worried now is it might be too big. I might just start with 3 floors. Then add the other 2 on top. Once they mature completly. Any other suggestions.to make this better are welcome.

Edited by anttics, December 9 2018 - 5:31 PM.

[YsTheAnt]

I would keep all the floors. In such a large colony, they will use the top floors for seeds. Even if they have all the extra space, once they grow to fill it, they will clean out all the junk that they may have put in there. You could also possibly injure the queen by moving the layers so best have it set in place.